For doctoral program announcements and deadlines, please visit the Dean's Newsletter

Robert Riddell, Jr., former GTU and PSR Trustee, passes away at 84
Dr. Robert James Riddell, Jr., PhD, former chair of the Pacific School of Religion (PSR) Board of Trustees and Life Trustee of the Graduate Theological Union (GTU), died August 16, 2007, at his home in Oakland, CA. Dr. Riddell served PSR over a 30-year period.  Read More.

Dr. Mia M. Mochizuki Receives CAA Publication Grant
Dr. Mia M. Mochizuki, Assistant Professor and Thomas E. Bertelsen, Jr. Chair of Art History and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union and Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley is the recipient of a College Art Association (CAA) Publication Grant for her book, Netherlandish Image after Iconoclasm, 1566-1672 (Ashgate).  The CAA Publication Grant is a single award of $23,000 to a publisher for one book, either under contract or near contract, on a topic in art, art history, art theory or criticism, visual studies, or a related field; the book must make a significant original contribution to art scholarship and research.

China Galland offers lecture
China Galland, author and GTU professor discussed slavery and its ramifications at The Commonwealth Club on Tuesday, July 31st.

Doug Adams, professor of art and religion at PSR, passes away at age 62
Doug Adams, a pioneering professor in religion and the arts at the Pacific School of Religion (PSR), died Tuesday, July 24 from cancer.  As a scholar and teacher, Dr. Adams played a leading role internationally in the field of religion and the arts, and was beloved by generations of students during his 31 years at PSR.  He is survived by his sister, Sally Urban, and her husband, Kenneth Urban, and three nieces and their husbands.  Pacific School of Religion will hold a memorial service on campus this fall, scheduled for Oct. 14, 4-7 p.m. Contributions may be sent to the Doug Adams Fund for Arts Ministries, Practicality and Hospitality at the Center for Arts, Religion and Education at the Graduate Theological Union, 2400 Ridge Road, Berkeley 94709.  Read More.

The Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies and the Future Center for Islamic Studies Host Public Lectures by Faculty Candidates.

Vrame Appointed to New Post in Greek Orthodox Church
Dr. Anton Vrame, director of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute (PAOI), a GTU affiliate, is named the new director of the department of religious education with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Dr. Vrame is also associate professor of Orthodox Christian Studies at the GTU.

Dr. Claude Welch, who has been at the GTU in various capacities (dean, then president and dean, then dean again, then professor emeritus of historical theology) since 1971, has relocated to Illinois. During his time as dean and president, Claude provided strong and creative leadership in many areas, including the development of the doctoral program structure and the design, the planning of the Hewlett Library, and the establishment of the GTU affiliate, the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. Since his retirement in 1986, he has continued to teach doctoral seminars in Systematic and Philosophical Theology and to serve as advisor and mentor for many students. A prolific author with a specialty in nineteenth century theology, Claude was honored at the American Academy of Religion three years ago for his role in founding the 19th Century Theology Group

McGraths Pledge Scholarship Gift
Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Joan McGrath have pledged $1 million to the GTU Scholarship Endowment. With this commitment, Mr. and Mrs. McGrath exemplify the charitable giving that GTU donors demonstrate in support of ecumenical and interreligious collaboration. Joan has served on the GTU board since 1996, and the McGraths’ leadership has helped sustain the GTU’s mission of teaching, research, ministry, and service.  Read more.

GTU Awarded Grants to Support Research on Mentorship and Learning and Teaching Academy
The Graduate Theological Union has been awarded two separate grants to support research on mentorship of doctoral students and the piloting of a Learning and Teaching Academy (LTA) for Future Faculty in religious studies and theology. The Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion in Crawfordsville, Indiana has awarded the GTU $70,000 to pilot the LTA over the next two years. A grant of $100,000 from the New York-based Teagle Foundation will support a two-year project entitled Engaging Meaning through Mentorship: Strengthening Post-Secondary Liberal Education through Vocation-Based Mentoring of Future Faculty.  Read more.

Naomi Seidman Publishes Faithful Renderings
Naomi Sheindel Seidman, Koret Professor of Jewish Culture and director of the Richard S. Dinner Center for Jewish Studies, has recently published a new book, Faithful Renderings: Jewish-Christian Difference and the Politics of Translation. Faithful Renderings explores translation history through the lens of Jewish-Christian difference, which, it concludes, is a direct effect of translation itself.

GTU President Appointed to WASC Accrediting Commission
James A. Donahue, Ph.D., president of the Graduate Theological Union, has been appointed to serve on the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), to begin October 2006.  The commission is responsible for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of colleges and universities that offer baccalaureate and graduate degrees in California, Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Basin.

GTU in Japan October 10 and 12
GTU President James A. Donahue and Vice President for Advancement Jane Whitfield will be bringing a GTU presence to Japan this fall, talking with officials and colleagues about East-West relations and bridging theological and cultural divides. Alumni and Friends in Japan are invited to dinner and conversation in Tokyo on October 10 and Kyoto on October 12. RSVP's are required. We must receive your e-mail address in order to send you the appropriate information about the location and times of these dinners. If you are interested in attending, please contact Kris Jachens, GTU Development Manager, at 510/649-2424 or send an email to kjachens@gtu.edu.

October 5, 2006
Senator John Danforth to be Honored at Blessing of the Crush
Mark your calendar for the fifth annual Blessing of the Crush, to be held Thursday, October 5, at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco. This elegant evening of dinner, wine tasting, and silent auction benefits student scholarships at the Graduate Theological Union. Our guest of honor is Senator John Danforth, whose prophetic voice in religion and politics embodies the mission of the GTU. An ordained Episcopal priest, Senator Danforth is the author of Faith and Politics: How the Moral Values Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together, to be published this fall.

August 16, 2006
President Donahue to Speak at "Religion and Democracy" Conference
GTU President James A. Donahue, DSPT professor Marianne Farina, Center for Jewish Studies visiting scholar Shana Penn, Rabbi Yoel Kahn Ph.D. '99, and former GTU and SKSM adjunct faculty member Hamid Mavani will join keynote speakers Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Khaled Abou El Fadl and other experts at the "Religion and Democracy" seminar co-sponsored by the GTU and the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC). Located at the ICCNC's Oakland office, the conference will focus on religious pluralism and the intersection of faith and society in the United States and the world today. Click here for more details.

SFTS Professor Publishes New Book
Christopher Ocker, professor of history at San Francisco Theological Seminary at GTU core doctoral faculty member, has published Church Robbers and Reformers in Germany, 1525-1547: Confiscation and Religious Purpose in the Holy Roman Empire. The book examines the religious controversy that broke out with Martin Luther from the vantage of church property.

June 19, 2006
Former GTU Professor Robert Campbell Leslie Dies
Teacher and scholar Robert Campbell Leslie died on Wednesday, June 14, 2006, in Napa, CA, at the age of 89. An ordained United Methodist minister, Leslie was emeritus professor of pastoral psychology and counseling. He taught at Pacific School of Religion from 1954 to 1982 and at the Graduate Theological Union from 1962 to 1982. Leslie also served as PSR dean for a year and a half, beginning in 1979.

Leslie is survived by his wife, Paula; by two children, William Allen Leslie of Berkeley and Heather Leslie Hammer of Livermore: and by two grandchildren, Joseph Robert Hammer and Leslie Mary Hammer. Heather shares Leslie's commitment to ministry, having just graduated from PSR with an MDiv this May.

June 14, 2006
Book Honors Work of Former GTU Dean and Professor Margaret Miles (Ph.D. '77)
The scholarship of Margaret Miles (Ph.D. '77), former GTU dean and professor of theology, has been recently recognized in the book The Subjective Eye: Essays in Culture, Religion, and Gender in Honor of Margaret R. Miles. Edited by Richard Valantasis, the publication includes contributions by GTU Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs Arthur Holder; Doug Adams (Th.D. '74), professor at both the GTU and Pacific School of Religion and director of the Center for Arts, Religion, and Education; GTU faculty emerita Jane Dillenberger; and Marty Stortz, professor at both the GTU and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary.

June 5, 2006
GTU Alum to Provide Music for Methodist Convention
Marcia McFee (Ph.D. ’05) is one of two prominent United Methodist musicians slated to lead the music for the denomination’s 2008 General Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. The international body meets quadrennially to discuss church law and polity.

May 29, 2006
Dr. Ted Peters: Communication Between the Ethicist and the Lab
Dr. Ted Peters, professor of systematic theology at the GTU and director of the Institute for Theology and Ethics at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, is one of three experts discussing the role of the bioethicist in a recent San Francisco Business Times article: "Ethics experts debate their role and purpose: Breakthroughs leave no shortage of knotty questions." He speaks of the importance of the communication between the ethicist and the laboratory researcher. Click here for a link to the article.

May 24, 2006
Dr. Surjit Singh, Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, dies at 88
Dr. Surjit Singh, professor emeritus of philosophical theology at San Francisco Theological Seminary, passed away on May 24, 2006 at the age of 88. A member of the SFTS faculty from 1951 through 1988, Dr. Singh was professor of philosophical theology–but his particular interest was Christology, the branch of theology concerned with the person and attributes and deeds of Christ. Dr. Singh and wife, Indira, established the Surjit Singh Essay Award in Christology and endowed an annual lectureship that is hosted by the GTU, The Surjit Singh Lecture in Comparative Religious Thought and Culture. SFTS Dean Jana Childers remembers Singh as "a diplomat, a negotiator, and, in his later years, the seminary's elder statesman whose loss is one the Seminary will feel keenly."

May 1, 2006
CARE Professor to Speak on Da Vinci Code on Total Living Network
Doug Adams (Th.D. '74), professor of Christianity and the Arts at the GTU's Center for the Arts, Religion, and Christianity (CARE), will be one of four guest experts on Total Living Network's May 10 program entitled "National Debate: The Da Vinci Code."

April 12, 2006
JSTB's Jerome Baggett Awarded Luce Fellowship
The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada has announced that Jerome Baggett, associate professor of religion and society at JSTB, is one of seven scholars from ATS schools to be named a 2006-2007 Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology. Baggett s research, entitled "Sense of the Faithful: An End and Beginning of American Catholicism," will focus on how active Catholics realize their connection to the sacred in their everyday lives.

April 10, 2006
GTU Alum Named President of Ecumenical Theological Seminary
Marsha Foster Boyd (Ph.D. '96), director of accreditation and leadership education at the Association of Theological Schools, has been named president of Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit, Mich.

March 7, 2006
GTU Alum Founds Cutting Edge Research Center
Heup Young Kim (Ph.D. '92), a GTU adjunct faculty member and professor of systematic theology at Kangnam University in Korea, has founded the Korea Forum for Science and Life, a South Korean center dedicated to the study of religion and science. An international symposium on natural science and Christianity will dovetail with the center's opening ceremony on May 16 in Seoul.

March 1, 2006
ABSW Professor Awarded Lilly Research Grant
Timothy Tseng, ABSW professor of American religous history and director of the Asian American center, has been awarded a Lilly Theological Scholar's Grant by the Association of Theological Schools. Professor's Tseng's research project is entitled "Persistent Witness: A Documentary History of Asian Protestants in the North American Diaspora."

February 3, 2006
GTU Alum Named President of Clarke College
Joanne Burrows (M.A. '90), SC, Ph.D., has been named president of Clarke College, a Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Dubuque, Iowa. She has previously served as a higher education administrator at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College and Indiana State University.

February 2, 2006
GTU Scholars Contribute to Guadalupe Book
GTU student Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, Anita de Luna (Ph.D. '00), Jeanette Rodriguez (Ph.D. '90), and former JSTB professor Allan Deck (co-editor) are all contributors to The Treasure of Guadalupe, a collection of original meditations and reflections on Our Lady of Guadalupe, one of the most prominent religious images of the western hemisphere. The book is the newest in the Celebrating Faith series on Latino spirituality and theology.

January 31, 2006
FST Professor Named First Vice President of the American Catholic Historical Association
Joseph P. Chinnici, O.F.M., FST professor of church history, has been elected first vice president of the American Catholic Historical Association. He will serve as the organization's president in two years.

January 1, 2006
PSR Professor Receives New Appointment
Dr. Fumitakia Matsuoka has been named Robert Gordon Sproul Professor of Theology at PSR.

For stories prior to 2006, visit our GTU News Archive